You know what? He's absolutely right. He's not a sixth man. He's a bonafide starter in this league, even after 13 bruise-filled seasons. I know that. You know that. He knows that. And the Grizzlies should have known that.

However, if for some reason, Memphis management actually thought AI couldn't deliver like the AI of old, they certainly didn't tell him that during the recruitment process, as Grizzlies GM Chris Wallace recently revealed on WHBQ-AM in Memphis.

You had discussions? Let's see how it fits in? Maybe it's starting, maybe it's coming off the bench? Uh, you kind of left that whole thing a little open-ended, didn't you Chris?

If what Wallace says is true and I'm the player in question, what he just said tells me that if I can prove to the coach that I am good enough to start, then I will start. Seems pretty plain and simple, and I am fairly certain that's exactly how Iverson read it as well.

However, it doesn't seem that Lionel Hollins quite sees it that way, or he's been told to see it another way. OJ Mayo and Rudy Gay have been penciled in as the foundation for this franchise going forward--that is, if the Grizzlies can sign Gay to a long-term deal.

These two young phenoms could be some of the best players of their generation, but their time is not now. It's in the future. In other words, the Grizzlies are smack-dab in the middle of a rebuilding process--something that AI never heard from Memphis, but something he wasn't trying to hear either.